Reigning PCA Open champion Patrick John Tierro and former junior campaigner Argil Lance Canizares led the march of the quarterfinalists in the 35th Philippine Columbian Association (PCA) Open-Cebuana Lhuillier ATF Tour on Thursday at the PCA indoor shell-clay court in Paco, Manila.

It was a bittersweet victory for the 31-year-old Tierro who turned the lights out on another local bet Eric Olivarez Jr., 6-2, 6-3.

“One game at a time. He (Olivarez) started slow and I took advantage of it. Here at PCA, anyone can beat you here so you need to be prepared at all times,” said Tierro.

The 19-year-old Canizares put on a clinic against his older foreign counterpart Medhir Goyal of India, 6-1, 6-3, in the tournament sanctioned by the Asian Tennis Federation.

“I was a bit nervous at first but I was able to gain my confidence during the game especially in the second set,” said Canizares, a Sports Management student at De La Salle University.

Veteran netters Elbert Anasta, Rolando Ruel Jr. and Filipino-Italian Marc Anthony Reyes also barged into the next round after turning back their respective rivals.

Davis Cup standout Anasta didn’t even get to display his skills when he won via default over Mohammadali Mamaghaninia of Iran.